What does a career coach do?
A career coach is responsible for helping a person reach their career goals and development by identifying their strengths, weaknesses, and aspirations. Career coaches conduct one-on-one counseling with their clients to share career advice and support them for the professional path. They also build self-confidence in their clients and help them improve their relationship with other people. A career coach must have excellent communication and organizational skills, especially in mentoring their clients and managing career services according to their clients' needs.
Career coach responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real career coach resumes:
- Offer EEO training to members at various sites.
- Schedule clients for work readiness training base on their IEP.
- Create and update PowerPoint presentations and trainers' notes to reflect current curriculum.
- Develop and implement a successful process to streamline the intake and orientation for the WIA customers.
- Plan events, such as college visits, alumni relations efforts, panel discussions, and college/career fairs
- Conduct vocational rehabilitation assessments and create action steps and goals cater to the client in finding stable employment.
- Document all communication with the client and take prompt action as necessary while working in conjunction with DHS.
- Travel to and recruit clients from WIA agencies, military bases, and unemployment offices across the state of Illinois.
- Provide resources and guidance to students, alumni and community members looking to change careers and/or update job seeking skills.
- Facilitate command indoctrination training for all new reporting sailors.
- Create social media plan including LinkedIn profile development and enhancement.
- Provide case management services to homeless mothers/fathers in welfare-to-work program.
- Develop, implement, monitor rehabilitation programs for persons with a disability.
- Help individuals with FAFSA (pell grant) application.
- Provide financial guidance to students and their families, including FAFSA application and interpretation of college award letters
Career coach skills and personality traits
We calculated that 10% of Career Coaches are proficient in Career Development, Professional Development, and Career Services. They’re also known for soft skills such as Interpersonal skills, Listening skills, and Speaking skills.
We break down the percentage of Career Coaches that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Career Development, 10%
Provided extensive one-on-one job retention / career development coaching to 80+ low-income immigrant adults.
- Professional Development, 8%
Assist students to increase awareness and utilization of resources and professional development through Career Services.
- Career Services, 6%
Collaborated with executive leadership to pilot inaugural year of career services to executive MBA students.
- Career Exploration, 5%
Facilitated monthly staffing for consumers; developed career exploration activities for all program referrals.
- Social Work, 5%
Increase social work knowledge by reviewing current literature, and attending seminars and training workshops.
- Community Resources, 4%
Networked with community resources in order to provide experiential learning in careers through job shadowing, volunteerism and community-service activities
Common skills that a career coach uses to do their job include "career development," "professional development," and "career services." You can find details on the most important career coach responsibilities below.
Interpersonal skills. One of the key soft skills for a career coach to have is interpersonal skills. You can see how this relates to what career coaches do because "school and career counselors and advisors must be able to work with people of all backgrounds and personalities." Additionally, a career coach resume shows how career coaches use interpersonal skills: "develop roadmaps for individuals, which highlight leadership, personal, and interpersonal skills for career advancement in construction industry. "
Listening skills. Another essential skill to perform career coach duties is listening skills. Career coaches responsibilities require that "school and career counselors and advisors need to give full attention to students and clients in order to understand their problems." Career coaches also use listening skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "advised students on career options and communicated appropriate academic paths that aligned with career interests. "
Speaking skills. This is an important skill for career coaches to perform their duties. For an example of how career coach responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "school and career counselors and advisors must communicate effectively with clients and students." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a career coach: "presented job search and career planning workshops. ".
Analytical skills. A big part of what career coaches do relies on "analytical skills." You can see how essential it is to career coach responsibilities because "school and career counselors and advisors interpret student records, schoolwide data, and assessments to match interests and abilities with potential careers. ." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical career coach tasks: "provide training on use of job databases and career planning tools. "
The three companies that hire the most career coachs are:
- Goodwill of North Georgia9 career coaches jobs
- Res-Care Premier8 career coaches jobs
- Udacity5 career coaches jobs
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Compare different career coaches
Career coach vs. Workforce development specialist
A workforce development specialist is responsible for designing and conducting training and development programs to significantly improve organizational and individual performance. You will perform a few duties that include evaluating training delivery modes, such as virtual or in-person to optimize training effectiveness and costs, developing, obtaining, or organizing training guides and procedure manuals, and coordinating the placement of trainees. As a workforce development specialist, you also have to choose and assign training instructors and negotiating contracts with clients.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between career coaches and workforce development specialist. For instance, career coach responsibilities require skills such as "professional development," "career services," "financial aid," and "linkedin." Whereas a workforce development specialist is skilled in "social services," "workforce development programs," "technical assistance," and "community outreach." This is part of what separates the two careers.
Workforce development specialists tend to make the most money working in the transportation industry, where they earn an average salary of $60,428. In contrast, career coaches make the biggest average salary, $47,523, in the utilities industry.workforce development specialists tend to reach lower levels of education than career coaches. In fact, workforce development specialists are 7.0% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.4% less likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Career coach vs. School counseling internship
A school counseling internship is a student program where an intern is assigned to help school counselors deal with students' social and emotional development or educational needs. School counseling interns must aid their school counselors in developing a comprehensive school counseling program and adjusting schedules for their students. They help maintain student records and monitor their students' graduation status while guiding all students on caseload. School counseling interns also organize school-to-career guidance activities or bi-annual interactive training sessions for faculty members.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that career coach responsibilities requires skills like "career services," "social work," "mock interviews," and "linkedin." But a school counseling internship might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "crisis intervention," "mental health," "iep," and "group therapy."
On average, school counseling interns earn a lower salary than career coaches. Some industries support higher salaries in each profession. Interestingly enough, school counseling interns earn the most pay in the education industry with an average salary of $44,038. Whereas career coaches have higher pay in the utilities industry, with an average salary of $47,523.In general, school counseling interns achieve similar levels of education than career coaches. They're 1.5% more likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.4% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for career coaches in the next 3-5 years?
Shelley Sadin
Associate Dean of Professional and Career Development, Quinnipiac University
Career coach vs. School counselor
A school counselor is responsible for monitoring the students' social and personal development, advising them of their career aspirations, and assisting them with their academic achievements and goals. School counselors also ensure that the students receive the highest learning standards to pave their way towards society's advancement and global competitiveness. They evaluate students' behavior through personal counseling, understanding their challenges, and develop strategies to overcome their needs. A school counselor must have excellent communication and decision-making skills, supporting students with their goals, and honing their skills efficiently.
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a career coach is likely to be skilled in "career services," "mock interviews," "linkedin," and "interview preparation," while a typical school counselor is skilled in "mental health," "crisis intervention," "behavioral issues," and "cpr."
School counselors make a very good living in the education industry with an average annual salary of $52,385. On the other hand, career coaches are paid the highest salary in the utilities industry, with average annual pay of $47,523.school counselors typically earn higher educational levels compared to career coaches. Specifically, they're 15.2% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.0% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Career coach vs. Admissions representative
As the name entails, admissions representatives assist prospective and new students attending a university. They give these students the information they need to make a well-informed decision regarding enrollment, make admissions decisions, and review documents. It is also their job to decide which students need to be followed up, ask students their choices, and hold new and prospective students to deadlines. They may be assigned to several areas depending on the department's needs, including prospect management, graduate admissions, and undergraduate admissions.
Types of career coach
Updated January 8, 2025
